Pic of Rhubarb Eton mess

Rhubarb Eton mess

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Rhubarb Eton mess

Pudding & Cake Serves 6 1h
Soft, sweet meringue and cream with tangy poached rhubarb. This crowd-pleasing dessert is very quick if you use shop-bought meringues, or a good way of using up broken homemade meringue You can also try it with raspberries or bananas.

Ingredients

  • 500-600g rhubarb, cut into 4cm lengths
  • 250g sugar and 100-200g more as needed
  • zest and juice of 1 orange
  • 300ml double cream
  • 4 meringues

Method

Prep time: 20 min
Cooking time: 40 min

  • Step 1

    Place the rhubarb, 250g sugar, orange zest and juice in a large lidded pan. Heat gently, stirring frequently, until the rhubarb starts oozing juice and the sugar dissolves.

  • Step 2

    Bring to the boil and cook at a simmer for 30 minutes or so until you have a thick purée - keep cooking to reduce the liquid if it is too thin.

  • Step 3

    Taste and add more sugar if needed but keep some acidity to offset the sweet meringue. Cool. Whip the cream until fairly stiff (you are going to mix it with the purée so it can't be too floppy).

  • Step 4

    Roughly crumble the meringues. Not more than 30 minutes before you are ready to serve, stir ¾ of the rhubarb and ¾ of the meringue into the cream.

  • Step 5

    Don't over mix - you want a streaky, rippled effect. Turn onto a serving plate or into a shallow bowl. Drizzle over the remaining rhubarb purée and sprinkle with remaining meringue crumbs before serving.